Travelling by plane for the 2024 Olympic Games

Before confirming your booking, check your choices as you are not entitled to a 14-day right of withdrawalduring which to cancel a flight booked online.

• Compare offers (free meal included, fees for check-in online or at the airport, additional luggage allowance surcharges, seat reservation, etc.) between different airlines and between the chosen airline and the booking platform.
• Do not be swayed by reduced price offers or mention of the number of people consulting the same flight and the number of remaining seats.
• Check the date of the booked flight, your first names, surname and date of birth.
• Find out whether your luggage is included in the price of the ticket.
• If you book several separate flights,give yourself enough time for the connections.

Ask your airline; some companies only allow certain breeds or certain types of animals (such as assistance dogs) on board.

Also ask about the conditions for transporting animals and the cost. Depending on its size and weight, your pet may be considered as excessluggage and will travel in a cage in the hold, or as additional carry-on baggage and can travel with you in the cabin in a carrier.

Pay attention to the time when you should arrive to check-in with your pet. If you fail to comply with the transport conditions, the airline may refuse boarding for your cat or dog.

Within the EU, a valid identity card or passport is required to enter and stay for a maximum of three months in a Member State. The airline may not allow you to board if you have an out-of-date identity card or passport.

In their general conditions of transport, many airlines stipulate other documents to be presented for boarding such as family record booklets or parental authorisations to leave the territory for French minors. Find out about this ahead of time!

If you are travelling from a non-EU country, you may need a visa. Further information here.

If your flight is still scheduled but you ask for your tickets to be cancelled as you cannot or no longer wish to travel (illness, death of a relative, etc.), your entitlement to a refund is entirely contingent on the conditions attached to your tickets.

If they cannot be amended or cancelled, refunds are not guaranteed.

Contact your carrieras soon as possible.

A flight is considered as being late as from:

• two hours for flights up to 1,500 km.
• three hours for flights of more than 1,500 km within the EU and for other flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km.
• four hours for flights of more than 3,500 km.

If your flight takes off several hours late, you are entitled to free beverages and meals in the departure airport, at your carrier’s expense, and two phone calls, two faxes or two emails. If the delay is such that your flight cannot take off until the next day, you are also entitled to accommodation and transfers between the airport and the hotel. If these expenses are not settled by the airline, ask for a refund by presenting supporting documents.

If the flight is more than two hours late on arrival, you are entitled to financial compensation calculated based on the distance of the flight:

• €250 for flights of up to 1,500 km.
• €400 for flights of between 1,500 km and 3,500 km.
• €600 beyond 3,500 km provided the flight is at least four hours late (€300 for a delay of between three and four hours).

Please note that this compensation will not be paid if:

• you were informed that your flight would be delayed at least two weeks prior to departure.
• the airline is able to prove that the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances (volcanic eruptions, floods, civil war, earthquakes, etc.).

A cancelled flight is one that was initially scheduled but did not leave. Theoretically, the cancellation of a flight involves a change of flight number, unlike a delay.

If your flight is cancelled, you are entitled to beverages and meals, and accommodation if your flight only takes off the next day, and two phone calls, two faxes or two emails. If these expenses are not settled by the airline, ask for a refund by presenting supporting documents.

You are also entitled to choose between a refund of your ticket or another flight to your final destination under comparable conditions of carriage.

Lastly, you are entitled to compensation of:

• €250 for flights of up to 1,500 km.
• €400 for flights of between 1,500 km and 3,500 km.
• €600 beyond 3,500 km.

Overbooking is when passengers are unable to board the plane as the airline has sold more tickets than available seats.

If you are denied a seat on an overbooked flight and did not volunteer to postpone your journey, you are entitled to:

• choose between a replacement flight to your final destination and a refund of your ticket.
• meals, beverages, two phone calls, two faxes or two emails and, if necessary, accommodation and transfers between the airport and the hotel.  

If you have not been rerouted, you are entitled to compensation of between €125 and €600 depending on the distance of your flight.

Check which items are prohibited in the hold and/or in the cabin.

• Immediately inform the airport that your luggage is missing at the desk of your last carrier airline or at the airport’s “baggage” desk. The airline must provide you with a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) number which you should keep as you will be asked for it in order to process your claim.
• Keep all your travel documents: boarding passes, baggage check-in receipts, luggage label if you recover it.
• If you receive your luggage late, you have 21 days as from receiving it to send a written claim to the airline and to request a refund for necessity purchases upon presentation of invoices. Use the airline’s online form.
• If you do not receive your luggage, you are entitled to claim a refund for your lost property and suitcase by presenting purchase invoices (up to around €1,500). If you do not have supporting documents, you may be offered compensation based on weight (approximately €20 per kilogramme).

Further information on baggage issues.

At the arrival airport, if you notice that your baggage has been damaged or destroyed during carriage, you can ask the carrier to refund the price of your damaged suitcase and property. To do so, write to the airline within seven days of receiving your suitcase and provide as much information as possible concerning the property damaged during carriage (photographs, purchase invoices, etc.).

The airline should compensate you up to approximately €1,500 per passenger (Montreal Convention).

Further information on baggage issues.

• From the point of arrival at the airport to the aircraft: you should be met at the information desk, be accompanied to the check-in counter, through the security, passport, and customs check to the passenger waiting area.
• During the flight: On flights departing from an EU airport the air carrier has to provide certain services free of charge, e.g. transportation of wheelchairs or assistance dogs.
• From the aircraft to the terminal exit or to another aircraft (for connecting flights): you shall be accompanied to the next aircraft (for connecting flights) or to the luggage claim area. Help in carrying the luggage to the designated point of departure must be provided.

Be aware that you might be unable to use your disability card from your home country to benefit in France from priority access or personal assistance. Such national cards from other EU Member States are currently not automatically recognised during a short-term stay in France. The European Commission has proposed to establish a harmonised European Disability Card but such a card won’t be available yet during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In the event of a dispute with the airline, disabled and reduced-mobility passengers can report the problem to the French Directorate-General for Civil Aviation by e-mail at signalement-phmr-bf@aviation-civile.gouv.fr.

After the Olympics, when you are travelling by plane back to your country, you should arrive early at the airport, especially if you are flying from Paris. From the 12 to 14 August 2024, airports in Paris will be crowded, due to the end of the Olympic Games.

In order to have sufficient time to check in your luggage and pass through security checks, you should plan ahead your arrival at the airport. Contact the airline company you are travelling with to receive recommendation about the time you should arrive at the airport prior to the flight departure.

• First, contact the airline or booking platform with which you ordered your tickets in writing. Retain proof of your correspondence.
• If this effort proves unsuccessful, proceed as follows:

- If you live in France, you can receive assistance from a consumer’s association, whose contact information is available on the DGCCRF’s website. You can also report your problem with the trader on the SignalConso website.

- If you live in another EU Member State, Iceland or Norway, the European Consumer Centre for your country can help you. Visit the ECC Network website for its contact information.

- If you live in anon-EU country, contact your country’s embassy or consulate in France or report the dispute on the econsumer.gov website via the complaint form or contact the members of consumersinternational.org.   

• Passengers with a disability or of reduced mobility can report the problem to the French Directorate-General for Civil Aviation by e-mail at signalement-phmr-bf@aviation-civile.gouv.fr.

There are no general regulations protecting passengers travelling from a non-EU country with a non-European airline.

Theoretically, the legislation of the country from which the plane departs applies. Find out about this ahead of time!

• First, contact the airline in writing. Retain proof of your correspondence.
• If this effort proves unsuccessful, proceed as follows: contact your country’s embassy or consulate in France or members of consumersinternational.org.